GazaWATCH News

May Headlines from the Gaza Strip

Hamas in Gaza created a 300-strong force operating under the authority of Interior Minister Fathi Hammad with the sole purpose of preventing Palestinian militants from launching rockets at Israel. According to a Gaza source, the force operates, "day and night, 24 hours, everywhere in the Strip." Anyone arrested for launching rockets can expect to spend at least a couple of months in prison. The force doesn't act against rocket launchers when Israel initiates an attack, as in the March flare-up.

Shin Bet chief Yoram Cohen told the Knesset that Iranian agents are in the Gaza Strip, providing Gaza terrorists withtraining and support. According to Cohen, Gaza is a "giant arms warehouse" with Hamas in possession of more than 8,000 rockets, including shoulder-launched rockets smuggled from Libya. "Hamas has military capabilities almost of a state," Cohen noted, saying that in some areas Hamas's military capabilities are better than Hezbollah's. Cohen also said that Hamas operates in the West Bank, and out of 28 planned kidnappings thwarted there last year, 18 of them were connected to Hamas.

According to a report in Asharq Al-Awsat, militant groups in Gaza affiliated with Fatah have failed to unify as one movement under Fatah's banner and leadership after efforts were exerted to do so. Instead, disagreements escalated and many of these groups have split and formed new groups that now receive funding from Iran and Hezbollah. Currently, Fatah does not officially sponsor any armed groups. It is unclear whether or not Fatah would start funding militant groups under its banner if the various organizations do unify.

Security Situation in Egypt

In the first week in May, masked gunman attacked a military checkpoint in the Sinai with rocket-propelled grenades, injuring two. The attack was the third on a security checkpoint and the first on a military checkpoint in the Sinai. Soldiers in the Sinai are demanding protection as many have been kidnapped or injured with little action taken by Egypt's authorities in Cairo.

Egypt launched an operation in May to fight the violence in Sinai in response to attacks against Egyptian forces in the region. The raids resulted in the arrest of Egyptians and Palestinians linked to the Ezzedeen al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas's armed wing.

According to Maj. Gen. Warren James Whiting, the commander of the Multinational Force and Observers (MFO) in Sinai, one of the biggest challenges facing his troops is weapons smuggling, including of the Russian SA-24 surface-to-air missile, which is being smuggled to Gaza through Egypt. The SA-24 can hit aircraft flying at 11,000 ft. Whiting also noted an increase in attacks against MFO bases in 2012, and said that in October 2011, an Iranian Fajr-5 missile landed near an MFO base possibly after it was test-fired.

Palestinian Unity

Hamas called the new Palestinian Authority (PA) cabinet sworn-in by PA President Mahmoud Abbas in May illegitimate, and the call for municipal elections in the West Bank "unacceptable." According to Hamas, forming a new cabinet is not in-line with the Doha Agreement signed by Abbas and Hamas chief Khaled Mashaal, which called for forming a "national consensus government to oversee elections"â€”presidential and primaryâ€”in the West Bank and Gaza as an effort to unify the two enclaves.

On May 28, Palestinian Authority election officials arrived in Gaza to formally begin their work of updating voter records to pave the way for Palestinian elections. That same day, Hanna Nasir of the Palestinian Central Election Commission (CEC) met with Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Gaza to begin negotiations on forming a temporary unity government. Nasir was reportedly appointed by PA President Abbas to help choose members of the government that will oversee the elections.

In response to Israel's unity government created in May by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and opposition leader Shaul Mofaz, Hamas said that the new coalition is dangerous for the Palestinians because Mofaz believes in killing women and children, according to Hamas's spokesman in Gaza, Fawzi Barhoum.

The Shin-Bet in May revealed that it uncovered a plot hatched by jailed Palestinians to kidnap an Israeli citizen to use to secure their release. The plot was uncovered weeks after Israel reached an agreement with prisoners in which they pledged to refrain from terror activity. The terror group, Holy Freedom Fighters, is reportedly involved. The group has also fired rockets from Gaza and set roadside bombs along Israel's border targeting IDF patrollers.

In Israel's south, the rocket-battered Sdot Negev Regional Council has experienced a 55% increase in population over the last five years due to its good school system and desired rural environment.

Hamas's Violent Rhetoric

Hamas chief in Gaza Ismail Haniyeh said the group would not go to war against Israel if it attacks Iran. He also said that Hamas would not abandon armed struggle. Palestinian resistance to Israeli occupation would continue "in all forms - popular resistance, political, diplomatic and military resistance," Haniyeh said.

In a statement commemorating "Nakba Day"â€”or "Day of Catastrophe," Hamas urged Fatah and the PA to not negotiate with Israel, and noted that Hamas still will not recognize Israel's right to exist. The statement also called on Britain, "which contributed to the Nakba of Palestine" to "do penance for their sin by stopping Israeli aggressiveness." Also to commemorate the day, Haniyeh ran in Gaza's "Jerusalem Marathon."

During May, Haniyeh reminded that there is no future for Israel "on the land of Palestine" and that Hamas "will not recognize Israel." Hamas released a statement reiterating this fact on the anniversary of the Six Day War. The statement underscored that Hamas considers all of Israel as "Palestine," and that it would never stop fighting for the entire land. Hamas also said that uniting the Palestinian governments is an important step in gaining a state.

Israel returned the remains of 91 Palestinian militants who killed over 200 Israelis as a goodwill gesture to revive peace talks. Eleven bodies were sent to Gaza, and 80 to the PA in the West Bank. "Palestine today glorifies its heroes," said a presenter on Hamas's Al-Aqsa radio. "With the return of the remains of the heroes, some of whom blew themselves up for Palestine, we hope the spirit of resistance and the smell of gunpowder will return to the alleys and streets of villages and refugee camps."

Starting in the fall 2012 school semester in Gaza, the Hamas government will offer students a new elective: Know Your Enemy. The course will teach Gazan students the Hebrew language so "we can understand the structure of the Israeli society, the way they think," explained Mahmoud Matar, director general of the Hamas-run Ministry of Education. "We teach our students the language of the enemy," he added. The last time Hebrew was taught in Gaza's public schools was 1994. It is not taught in the PA-controlled areas. On the other hand, learning Arabic is compulsory in Israeli middle schools.

Funding

The United Arab Emirates Red Crescent (UAERC) announced that it plans to donate $817,000 to the UN for a food aid program in Gaza. The UAERC contributed over $5 million for food over the last five years.

Australia announced it would donate $90 million to the UN over five years to pay for additional teachers and doctors for Palestinian refugees in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, the Gaza Strip, and the West Bank.

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